Hospitality Property Fund delivers 17.7% growth to 89.08c in its distributions per combined linked unit in the 6 months to end December

Hospitality B-linked units' distribution for the 6 months ended 31 December 2013 are expected to exceed the forecast of 13‚36c per linked unit by 40%-50%‚ says company.

JSE's R249bn listed property sector delivers a muted 7.3% total return for the first 11 months of this year, some way off the 17.92% achieved by the All Share index over the same time.

Hotel stocks have had a dismal four years but there are signs of a recovery

Hospitality Property Fund records 26.2% increase in distributable earnings

JSE-listed Hospitality Property Fund (HPA,HPB), which invests in hotel and leisure properties, is optimistic about the outlook for the hotel industry after a challenging period in the sector, according to CEO Andrew Rogers.

Hospitality Property Fund says HPF Properties has entered into a new sale agreement with Savana Property to acquire 100% of the Radisson Blu Gautrain hotel in Sandton for R443.385m.

Hotel-focused property loan stock company Hospitality Property Fund’s A-linked unit price rallied 6.06% to close at R17.50 after the fund reported it had met its forecasts for the six months ended December, with A-linked unit distribution growth of 5% to 66.51c, and B-linked unit distributions increasing 16.2% to 9.19c.

Rental income for the period increased 8.3% to R174 million, underpinned by improving overall occupancies and average room rates (“ARR’s”) over the bulk of the properties, more particularly in the core metropolitan portfolio.

The bad news for shareholders of Hospitality Property Fund, last week it announced plans for a rights issue to help refinance a R1,35bn debt facility with Absa that expires this month.